Knowledge Base

Monthly Archives: January 2013

The Rabbit would spend every morning on his iPad his RSS feed and following the Twitter feed of the experts in his industry. He understood how fast business can change and he was focused not to be left behind. His business would always be ahead of the curve.

Lesson: Business is constantly changing and it is vital for success that entrepreneurs and business owners change with the times, evolve and innovate or it is likely that you will be left behind. In Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, it was written “Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”

“He’s just a hustler” said the Bear. As he watched Fox move from venture to venture with no idea how to make money. As he pulled his cubs aside, he said, “I’ve been in business for years and you have to understand that when you’re in business one of the most vital things to take into account is the business model. That’s why Fox is bouncing around from venture to venture. He hasn’t though about how he should make money.” His children nodded while they listened. He continued, “if you don’t or aren’t making money, you’re not in business.”

Lesson: Pay attention to your business model. Business Model Generation defines the business model shows “the logic of how a company intends to make money.” It “describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value.” Business Model Generation describes it through nine basic building blocks that these areas of business: customers, offer, infrastructure and financial viability. “The business model is like a blueprint for a strategy to be implemented through organizational structures, processes, and systems.

The Lion pushes toward his plan of making money by selling leaves to the ants during the rainy days. He knew there would be profits but alas, he spots the elephant doing the same thing at a cheaper rate. He could not compete with the elephant and packed his items up. Later that night, the lion thought to himself, “This idea may not have worked, but I have plenty more. It only takes one to be successful.“ He headed back to the drawing board and started coming up with other ideas. The next day he was back out selling bananas to the monkeys.

Again the competition was fierce and he was forced to pack it up. After nights of pondering on the best ideas, he came across another item to sell to the baboons. A comb would help them groom themselves much better. The lion looked around and saw that his idea had not been put into effect by anyone else. He worked on his business plan and made great decisions. His combs sold out day after day. Others tried to replicate the process, but the Lion had come up with the best and cheapest. After years of trying ideas after ideas, the lion was deemed successful. He never gave up because he knew one of his ideas would work.

This business lesson comes from Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad in where Kiyosaki pushes people to continue searching for business ideas. He emphasizes, it only takes one great idea to be successful.

The Rabbit took a drink of Red Bull and found himself back on the computer coding away. At night he spent his time coding while during the day he pitched his new concept to venture capitalist across Silicon Valley. Even after he received Venture Capital for his business, he worked even harder understanding that when he wasn’t working, there was someone else working getting an edge on his business. With his red eyes, Rabbit knew that business was a competition and if he didn’t treat it like that he wouldn’t have a business.

Lesson: This lesson is inspired from Mark Cuban on his Blog Maverick site. As Cuban said, “I love the sport of business. I love the competition. I love the fire of it. It’s the feeling of the clock winding down, the ball is in your hands, and if you hit the shot you win…all day, every day. Relaxing is for the other guy. I may be sitting in front of the TV, but I’m not watching it unless I think there is something I can learn from it. I’m thinking about things I can use in my business and the TV is just there. I could take the time to read a fiction book, but I don’t. I would rather read websites, newspapers, magazines, looking for ideas and concepts that I can use. I spend time in bookstores because 1 idea from a book or magazine can make me money. I’m not going to go to dinner with you just to chat. I’m not going to give you a call to see how you are. Unless you want to talk business. Other guys play fantasy sports. I fire the synapses to get an edge. That’s what success is all about. It’s about the edge…. Every day some stranger from any where in the world that you have never met is trying to come up with a way to put you out of business. To take everything you have worked your ass off for, and take it all away. If you are in a growing industry, there could be hundreds or thousands of strangers trying to figure out ways to put you out of business. How cool is that. The ultimate competition. Would you like to play a game called Eat Your Lunch. We are going to face off. My ability to execute on an idea vs yours. My ability to subvert your business vs your ability to keep it going. My ability to create ways to remove any reason for your business to exist vs your ability to do the same to me. My ability to know what you are going to do, before you do it. Who gets there first? Best of all, this game doesn’t have a time limit. It’s forever. It never ends. It’s the ultimate competition. It’s the sport of business. It’s not for everyone, but I love it.”

Over years the Flamingo ran her lemonade stand and worked hard to ensure that each customer had an enjoyable experience. Her intern, the Frog one day asked the Flamingo, “How do you continue to grow despite the tough economy? How’s that possible when every other lemonade stand is struggling?”

The Flamingo thought and simply said, “Well, I just add value. While those other businesses are struggling, I make sure that my business is valuable to clients. You might just see this as a lemonade stand, but one customer sees it as a place to listen to music and enjoy a snack during lunch. A business man might see it as a place to work on his computer. A lonely customer might come for the good conversation. At the end of the day, I just make sure that every client has a great experience every time they walk through my doors.”

Lesson: Today business is difficult and competitive and entrepreneurs and business owners need to remember that customers and clients are more conscious about where they are spending their money. If you want to grow a strong and stable business, be sure to add some type of value to clients and customers.

Hi, my name is Gresham (Gresh) and this is a business blog that I manage with a phenomenal team. I am the Blogger in Chief for CBNation and a media consultant for Blue 16 Media. Helping out business owners with website design and digital marketing. I hope you enjoy this blog. Contact me to set up a time to speak or let's meet for coffee (even though I rarely drink it). You can schedule a time on my calendar HERE. Find me on social media @progreshion.